Chapter 2

While I was packing up my dorm, I came across a treasure I had once tucked carefully away in my lockbox.

It was an amethyst bracelet.

When I was ten, Xavier, Silas, Caspian, and I bought four crystal bracelets together.

We each put one on to seal our promise that we'd never drift apart.

But when I was 13, Vivian came to live with us and became Dad's adopted daughter.

She was the orphaned daughter of Dad's best friend.

My parents, Daniel and Claire Sloane, felt so sorry for her that she got the best of everything first.

She wasn't strong and she got cold easily, so the sunny bedroom went to her. All I got was the converted storage room.

She liked her food spicy, so I had to get used to it. The dishes I loved never showed up on the table again.

Eventually, even Xavier and the others were on her side.

Caspian was the first to take off his bracelet.

He said it wasn't right for a male werewolf to wear a crystal bracelet all the time.

Silas was the second.

He said it was too small, so he just stopped wearing it.

And finally, even Xavier took his off.

He said we didn't need a bracelet to prove anything. We'd still be as close as we'd always been.

The day after Xavier took his off, I took off the amethyst bracelet I'd worn for ten years and put it away in my lockbox.

Now I wasn't sure it meant anything at all.

I might as well give it to Vivian and let go of whatever hope I had left, once and for all.

When I got to Vivian's dorm room, she was sitting in a chair, all smiles, eating a piece of cake.

Caspian was making her bed for her.

Silas was tidying her desk.

With her dress draped over his arm, Xavier reached over to wipe some frosting from the corner of her mouth. His voice was gentle. "You said a while back that people were talking about where you came from. We set the record straight for you.

"From now on, everyone's going to know you grew up with us."

Vivian lowered her voice. "What if Flora finds out? She's never liked me."

Xavier smiled to reassure her.

"It's fine. We'll all vouch for you."

Caspian chimed in like it was no big deal, "I'll Photoshop our group photos and swap Flora's face out for yours. Then nobody can question you."

Silas muttered under his breath, "I wish it really had been you who grew up with us."

Nobody disagreed.

I stood outside the door and listened in silence as they wrote off our 20 years of friendship with a few offhand words.

In that moment, the pain in my heart was so sharp I felt like it might split me in two.

One half of me broke down sobbing somewhere in the empty dark.

The other half walked through the door like she hadn't heard a thing.

When they saw me, every face in the room froze.

But I just smiled and held out the amethyst bracelet to Vivian.

"A graduation present for you."

Xavier stared at the bracelet like he couldn't believe it.

"Why would you give her that?"

Once, the promise behind those four bracelets had meant so much to me.

I'd even fought tooth and nail when Vivian wanted to buy another bracelet and join us.

But now I finally got it. When hearts drift apart, even a hundred bracelets won't change a thing.

"If she likes it, she can have it. Think of it as a goodbye present."

Surprise crossed Xavier's face, but in the end he gave a satisfied nod.

"You've finally grown up. Now I won't have to worry about you going out West on your own."

Vivian took the bracelet and happily put it on.

Caspian and Silas crowded around her, smiling and gushing over it.

"It looks best on you."

"Yeah. Guess you were always meant to be its real owner."

Xavier walked me out, took my hand, and gently stroked it.

"I know you must be upset.

"Once we're both settled in our jobs, I promise we'll become mates. Okay?"

I pulled my hand away and didn't answer.

"I still have a lot of packing to do in my dorm. I'm going to go."

Before he could react, I turned and left.

Back in my dorm, the first thing I did was dig out every photo of the four of us. One by one, I tore up the prints and deleted the rest.

If nobody cared about them, they could go in the trash.